The Boy Named Charlie Brown Is No Failure Face

I'm a big fan of Peanuts, so when Netflix directed me to a Charlie Brown film I'd never seen, and a full-length one at that, I was excited. At first, when I received A Boy Named Charlie Brown in the mail, I thought the movie might be something along the lines of a cartoon version of the stage musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. But while that play gives all the characters equal time and is more a series of vignettes than an actual story, this film has a very definite plot, and Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) has a larger role to play in it than anyone else, with the possible exception of Linus (Glenn Gilger).

One of Charlie Brown's most endearing qualities is his tendency toward lousy luck. It's easy for us to see ourselves in this boy who can't get his kite in the air or work up the nerve to talk to the little red-haired girl. But it doesn't seem fair for this good-hearted lad to fall flat on his face time and again. Surely even the blockhead with the jagged stripe on his shirt ought to have a genuine shot at glory. Charles Schulz must have thought so, too, because in this movie, we find that Charlie Brown is actually good at something. It turns out that he has a knack for spelling. He has such a knack, in fact, that he makes it all the way to the National Spelling Bee.

I never would have figured Charlie Brown, who has such trouble getting through letters to his pen pal, for a literary ace, but it seems to have been a latent talent. Once he discovers it, he does everything he can to nurture it, largely for the sake of his friends, who are quickly caught up in the excitement. He even comes up with a song that might prove helpful to those who struggle with spelling. Then again, as someone who once participated in a citywide spelling bee, I understand Charlie Brown's frustration in poring over long lists of words; this movie does nothing to glamorize the process and could scare some kids off when they see the way the preparations can overtake one's life.

I found the main storyline extremely engaging, along with a subplot involving Linus lending Charlie Brown his security blanket and then going through extreme withdrawal symptoms after a short time without it. His pain is evident in his appearance, as he is shaky, clammy and discolored, but its most memorable manifestation is in the subversion of the peppy Linus and Lucy tune, turning it into a minor-key dirge whenever Linus appears onscreen without his beloved blanket. I'm also a fan of the sappy theme song written and sung by Rod McKuen, though I find the other songs he penned a bit grating, especially the taunting Failure Face.

What I could have done without in the special are several extremely trippy montages that reminded me a bit of some of the scarier animated segments in Sesame Street history. They don't serve much of a purpose, and the series of flashing images is headache-inducing. These diversions occur mainly in the first half of the film, before the focus turns almost entirely to Charlie Brown's studies and Linus's struggles. I doubt Schulz had much to do with them, as they're entirely lacking in dialogue or plot; they're just an excuse for Bill Melendez to show off some fancy animation and Vince Guaraldi to expand his jazzy score. Some will probably find these segments appealing, but for me, they dragged the movie down a bit.

Still, if you're a Charlie Brown fan, you'll definitely want to check this out to see how much triumph the perpetual loser will be allowed. Despite a few ironic twists, A Boy Named Charlie Brown leaves one with a feeling of optimism. If Charlie Brown can suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and still press on, why not the rest of us?